Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2021
129. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Defence the key performance indicator analysis of the emergency aeromedical service in terms of the number of callouts received from the National Ambulance Service, average arrival time and so on; and the breakdown of the number of incidents that have been attended to by the service in each of the years 2016 to 2020. [46995/21]
View answerThe Emergency Aeromedical Support (EAS) Service is a daily, day-time service based in Custume Barracks, Athlone and which operates primarily in the West of Ireland.
Since the commencement of this service in June 2012, the Air Corps has completed over 3,300 missions, 1,805 of which were completed in the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020.
The following table summarises the EAS service missions between 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020.
|
Year |
Tasks |
Completed |
Stood Down |
Denied** |
|
2016* |
835 |
415 |
250 |
170 |
|
2017* |
658 |
357 |
177 |
124 |
|
2018* |
539 |
320 |
137 |
82 |
|
2019 |
638 |
347 |
190 |
101 |
|
2020 |
625 |
366 |
165 |
94 |
*It should be noted that the National Ambulance Service and Air Corps definition of a 'tasking' was not fully aligned during the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. Therefore figures provided by each organisation may differ for these years.
**Reasons for denying a callout can include the aircraft being already tasked elsewhere, insufficient daylight hours and adverse weather, among others.
I am advised that the average response time by the EAS stands at 6.5 minutes, which ensures an effective response to time-critical taskings by the HSE.
The EAS service is a good example of the Air Corps and HSE combining their resources to deliver life-saving services for the people of Ireland.
